Jesus
said to the Twelve: “Fear no one. What I say to you in darkness, speak in the
light. What you hear whispered, proclaim
on the housetops. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill
the soul.” The Gospel today is very
challenging. It says our being a Christian
and proclaiming our faith is enough reason for the world to want to persecute
and even kill us. This may seem a very
melodramatic statement, but apart from, perhaps, the USA, Canada, Western Europe and Australia, it is a real possibility you may be called
upon to sacrifice your life for the sake of the Christian Faith. Simply going to Sunday mass may result in
your being blown to pieces by terrorists.
Archbishops, priests, religious and Catholic workers are gunned down by
or permanently disappear at the hands of drug lords and immoral dictators
throughout the world.
Just last May, our Pope Francis met with
the Coptic Pope Tawadros II at the Vatican.
There they agreed that the Catholic Church would include the 21 Coptic
martyrs who were beheaded in 2015 by the deranged militants of the so-called
Islamic State...that they would be included in
the Roman Martyrology of the Catholic Church and would be celebrated as
martyr saints of the Catholic Church as well as their own Egyptian Coptic
Orthodox Church. Here we see how those
who persecute the Church even to killing its members actually bring greater
ecumenical unity to the Body of Christ and so increase the strength of the
Church. It is just what Jesus said in
today's gospel—Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the
soul. Yes, it is a challenge to us. We can always ask ourselves the old
question, “If the state were arresting all the Christians who witness to their
faith in word and deed, would there be enough evidence against us—against me?” Jesus
said, “Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge
before my heavenly Father.”
At the meeting in May, Pope Francis
enthusiastically prayed, “May the prayers of the Coptic martyrs, united with
those of the Mother of God, the Theotokos, continue to help our churches grow
in friendship, until the blessed day when we can celebrate at the same altar
and receive together the Body and Blood of the Savior.” The two popes spoke of the blood of martyrs
being the seed of Christian unity. The feast day will probably be on February
15th, the day of the martyrdom. It is
striking how similar the martyrdom of the Coptic Christians was to that of our
seven Trappist monks of Atlas in Algeria in 1996. Remarkably, the Trappist martyrs brought
about for many a better feeling toward the people of Islam for whom the monks
prayed so deeply and loved and served so fervently. Again, we see the mystery of dying and
rising—martyrdom increasing human unity.
My nephew sent me a picture of a Catholic village church in Pakistan
surrounded during the Sunday mass by the local Muslim congregation standing
outside. The Muslims were all facing
outwards from the church in order to protect their beloved Catholic fellow
villagers from attack from fanatics during the mass. This is true solidarity and love.
The second reading from Romans touches on this theme of death and new life, but in a way that applies immediately to all Christians everywhere. The mystery of death came into our world through our sins. Life comes to us when we accept the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ who gave his life for us all. This gift of life overflows for the many, for all who will accept it gratefully, eucharistically. The Church teaches that we die daily to ourselves through conversion and penance which find their nourishment in the Eucharist. The celebration of Word and Sacrament in the Eucharist causes us to be moved by the Holy Spirit and the grace of the sacrament to live in greater union with God and with others by dying to self. We do this daily in gestures of loving service and reconciliation, in concern for the poor, by fraternal support and correction, in the patient acceptance of the suffering and even the sickness and disease in our lives in prayerful union with the passion of Christ for the good of all people for “whom the Church suffers and offers herself through Christ to the Father.” (CCC) In these and all other personal hidden martyrdoms our death to self brings about unity among God's people and gives glory to our Father in Heaven.
Vintage photograph of the Abbey hilltop. Today's homily by Father Luke.
